Israel poses a serious threat to the Houthis
Israel continues to target Yemen's Houthi rebels and threatens them following the latest offensives launched by the Yemeni rebels.
Israel’s defence minister vowed on Thursday to inflict the biblical ten plagues of Egypt on Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they stepped up their missile attacks against Israel.
“The Houthis are firing missiles at Israel again. A plague of darkness, a plague of the firstborn, we will complete all ten plagues,” Israel Katz posted on X.
He was referring to the ten disasters that the Book of Exodus says were inflicted on Egypt by the Hebrew God to convince the pharaoh to free the enslaved Israelites.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli army said a missile fired from Yemen struck outside Israeli territory, a day after it intercepted two Houthi missiles.
The Houthis’ military spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebels had targeted Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport with a ballistic missile.
The Iran-backed Houthis have vowed to step up their attacks on Israel, after their prime minister and 11 other senior officials were killed in Israeli air strikes last week.
The Houthis are implicitly accusing UN officials in Sana’a of spying for Israel.
Yemen’s Houthi-run foreign ministry said United Nations officials’ legal immunities should not shield espionage activities, days after at least 18 UN personnel were detained in the capital Sana’a.
The UN said on Sunday that Houthi rebels raided its premises in Sana’a and detained UN staff, following the Israeli strike.
Before the weekend raids the Houthis were already holding 23 UN personnel, some since 2021. Another UN staff member died while in Houthi custody in February.
“So far, the UNICEF and WFP (World Food Programme) offices remain under the Houthi control,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday, again calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained.
He said the Houthis had also broken into the UN Development Programme complex.
“We reiterate that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times,” he said.
The Houthi-run Foreign Ministry also accused the UN of bias, saying it had condemned “legal measures taken by the government against spy cells involved in crimes,” but failed to denounce the Israeli attack, the Houthi-run news agency Saba reported on Wednesday.
The ministry added that Yemen respected “the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations … while emphasizing that these immunities do not protect espionage activities or those who engage in them, nor provide them with legal cover,” it added.
The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile attacks against Israel since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, saying the launches are in support of the Palestinians.
Israel has carried out several rounds of retaliatory strikes in Yemen, targeting ports, power stations and the international airport in Sana’a, the rebel-held capital.
The Israeli military said on Thursday a missile launched from Yemen towards Israel fell in an open area outside Israeli territory and no sirens were activated, the third such launch within less than 24 hours.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis recently stepped up attacks and missile launches, in what they have called an initial response to Israeli attacks on Yemen.
The Houthis have been launching missiles and drones thousands of kilometres north towards Israel, describing them as acts of solidarity with Palestinians.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones launched have been intercepted or fallen short of targets.
Israel has retaliated by bombing Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital port of Hodeidah. Its latest blow killed senior Houthi officials, including the head of the government.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have also been attacking vessels in the Red Sea since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
